Back in the good old days when I was a sweet young thing, I spent a short time teaching in an early childhood program in the Denver Public Schools. It was an innovative program, federally funded, in a largely working-class neighborhood. I was blessed to share the classroom with a full-time teaching assistant who was working as an assistant only because she was updating her teaching credentials after taking time out for mommy duty for several years. The two of us were responsible for teaching morning and afternoon classes of about fourteen children, mostly four-year-olds and some who had turned five too late to enroll in kindergarten. The children attended class Tuesday through Friday. Monday was reserved for home visits. The assistant and I would schedule about six visits each Monday, meaning that we managed to get around to each child's home about every five or six weeks. We'd bring books and learning games into homes that often didn't have money to spend on things t...
